Title: syntax error
Last modified: August 20, 2016

---

# syntax error

 *  Resolved [vik92sandhu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/vik92sandhu/)
 * (@vik92sandhu)
 * [14 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/syntax-error-33/)
 * I was removing a signature function out of my functions.php of my lightworld 
   theme. When I hit update I got this
    Parse error: syntax error, unexpected ‘<‘
   in /hermes/bosweb/web031/b310/ipg.droidlabsca/wp-content/themes/lightword/functions.
   php on line 9
 * here is the area that I was editing, does anything seem wrong?
 * <?php
    if (!empty($_SERVER[‘SCRIPT_FILENAME’]) && ‘functions.php’ == basename(
   $_SERVER[‘SCRIPT_FILENAME’])) die (‘Please do not load this page directly. Thanks!’);
 * $themename = “LightWord”;
    $shortname = “lw”; $top_header_image_path = get_template_directory_uri().”/
   images/header-image.png”;
 * (((((I PLACE IT HERE)
 * if ( ! isset( $content_width ) ) $content_width = 550;
 * $options = array (
 *  array( “name” => “Welcome”,
    “type” => “title”),

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

 *  [iansane](https://wordpress.org/support/users/iansane/)
 * (@iansane)
 * [14 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/syntax-error-33/#post-2517214)
 * Was it where the above code says (((((place it here) ? Looks like that is line
   9
 * If it is html you would need to close out php tag before the html and then reopen
   the php tag after the html.
 *  Thread Starter [vik92sandhu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/vik92sandhu/)
 * (@vik92sandhu)
 * [14 years, 8 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/syntax-error-33/#post-2517216)
 * (((((PLACED IT HERE)))) thats where I added my own code but now have deleted 
   it. the ((((PLACE It HERE))))) is not actually in the code.
 *  [iansane](https://wordpress.org/support/users/iansane/)
 * (@iansane)
 * [14 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/syntax-error-33/#post-2517322)
 * hmm… well, what ever is on line 9 or possibly line 8 or 10 (sometimes the error
   is actually right before or right after the line number the error gives). But
   I would interpret this error as there is a ‘<‘ on that line that shouldn’t be
   there. It’s hard to tell if the function you are removing has some other code
   elsewhere that is inserting an opening tag or something.
 * Normally the above error would be caused by something like this
 *     ```
       <?php
       //some php code
       <div>or some other html tags</div>
       //more php code
       ?>
       ```
   
 * which should be
 *     ```
       <?php
       //some php code
       ?>
   
       <div>or some other html tags</div>
   
       <?php
       //more php code
       ?>
       ```
   
 * Notice the closing and opening php tags that keep php from trying to parse the
   html as php. Without them it would imediately throw the error on the first ‘<‘.
 *  Thread Starter [vik92sandhu](https://wordpress.org/support/users/vik92sandhu/)
 * (@vik92sandhu)
 * [14 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/syntax-error-33/#post-2517326)
 * Hey thanks guys, I managed to resolve the issue by analyzing the file in greater
   depth and finding some bad html. Thanks a ton for your help its much appreciated.
 *  [iansane](https://wordpress.org/support/users/iansane/)
 * (@iansane)
 * [14 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/syntax-error-33/#post-2517327)
 * No problem. Glad you found the issue.

Viewing 5 replies - 1 through 5 (of 5 total)

 The topic ‘syntax error’ is closed to new replies.

 * In: [Fixing WordPress](https://wordpress.org/support/forum/how-to-and-troubleshooting/)
 * 5 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [iansane](https://wordpress.org/support/users/iansane/)
 * Last activity: [14 years, 7 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/syntax-error-33/#post-2517327)
 * Status: resolved

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